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We actually thought the debt collector was a scammer, that is how bad they treated me on the phone

Debt amount:

$2150

Date debt issued:

Friday, 12 February 2016

Period debt occurred:

January 2014 to December 2014

Payment Type:

Newstart Allowance

Appealing Debt?:

I don't know how to

Tell us about your debt and how has this affected you? e.g. anxiety levels, financial and accommodation stress:

It all started when I got a text from an extremely rude debt collector saying I had to call urgently. I called and the woman said I had to pay $2000 immediately. She wouldn't tell me what the debt was for but eventually said Newstart. I thought it was BS but unfortunately gave my bank details for direct debit per fortnight before I called centrelink to check. It was the same issue where I found out that the computer had incorrectly averaged my income for the year. It was a year where I pretty much worked non stop and there was no way I owed it. I had not received any letters and now can't undo the fortnightly direct debit without closing my account. Centrelink said they would get back to me about a refund but so far nothing has been done. What they are doing is illegal . We actually thought the debt collector was a scammer, that is how bad they treated me on the phone. Just appalling that centrelink are doing this and the method of getting the money is just nothing short of illegal

How do you feel about the way the Government has handled this process?: